This is kind of a double question so I hope I type it out clearly and it's not too confusing.

First off I am wondering if you use one standard serving size for all of your cakes (wedding and non-wedding) or do you have a "wedding cake serving size" and then a "non-wedding cake serving size"?

Secondly, if you have one serving size across all cakes......do you price wedding cakes more per serving than other cakes or is is all based on difficulty no matter what the cake is for?

OR

If you have a seperate serving size just for your wedding cakes......do you still price them more per serving or keep the same rate per serving among all cakes and end up making more off the wedding cakes because their servings are smaller?

PHEW!

I hope that wasn't too confusing

Many thanks to anyone who survived reading that and actually manages to respond!!! You guys are always ever so helpful!

I use the wilton wedding chart for ALL cakes.

I use the chart to determine pricing, not necessarily to determine number of servings, although they coincidentally happen to be the same.

I will not put myself in the position of explaining to two neighbor ladies why the 10" round cake one of them bought for a wedding was $100 but the 10" round cake the other bought for a birthday was $60. It's funny, but when I tell my supplier that I'm going to use the eggs for a birthday cake, and not a wedding cake, they DON'T give me a discount! Same cost, same work, same price.

A serving chart is a guideline. I had one customer who wanted a cake to serve about 30. I said, "Well, a 10" cake will serve about 35, based on a standard serving ....." and she interrupted me and said, "Oh, well we better get a bigger cake, then!"

*IF* you set up wedding servings and party serving price lists, DON'T sell them more cake for the same money. That isn't logical. A weddign serving is 1x2x4 (8 cubic inches). A party serving is usually 1.5x2x4 (12 cubic inches. The party serving is 50% bigger, so the price per slice should be 50% bigger. If your standard price is $3, then a party serving should be $4.50.

When you do the math, the cost of the cake ends up being the same, so itall becomes a matter of semantics anyway.

Key is to find a chart you like and stick to it.

one serving size for everything!

if you do use party and wedding, the party serving must be more as its a bigger slice of cake. so the $70 cake is still a $70 cake.
(many party cakes are tiered, and doweled so the extra supplies are the same)
xx

Oh, another idea for you ..... another thing I do is give them a range of servings:

"An 8" round will serve 15-24 people, and a 10" round will serve 20-35 people, depending on how you cut them."

Plus I also show them how to cut it. This gives them a good range and an idea of size to enable them to select the size cake they need. If they are planning 20 people, some will go with the 8" cake .... others will "play it safe" and go with the 10" cake.

The price of the cake is always the same .... the number of servings varies, depending on how they cut it ... the price is based on the number of servings on the wilton chart.

I use the same serving size for all cakes that are 4" high, and a separate serving size for sheet cakes because they're 2" high, I have a total price for sheet cakes and a price/serv. for everything else, the per serving prices are different for different "types" of cakes to and are like this

1/4 sheet -one price
1/2 sheet-one price
full sheet-one price

individual/satellite cake (4" high)- price/serv.
tiered cake- diff. price/serv.
3-d/carved cakes-diff. price/serv.
2-d/ carved sheet cake-diff. price/serv.
topsy turvy cakes-diff. price/serv.

Wow tons of useful information!!! Thanks so much for sharing guys! You definitely answered my question!